How To Teach Your Dog That You Are The Pack Leader

Become the Pack Leader

One way to train your dog is to show him who’s boss, showing him who is the “pack leader.” You may have heard about this technique before and may have seen dog trainers perform dog training strategies out of this method. This is so because it actually works. Being the pack leader is the key to training your dog to do things and even correcting undesirable behaviors.

A pack leader is exactly what it is. He is the alpha male, the leader who guides his members in everyday activities. Dogs live and play by a certain code, a code that has been in place the beginning of time. A pack of dogs follow a pack leader and in your current situation, you are the pack leader. You need to assert yourself and be responsible for your pack’s actions.

Adapting this method will not just allow you to teach your dog how to sit, fetch and to do all sorts of fun tricks. A pack leader is more of developing the right and acceptable attitude in your dog and teaching him how to respond to certain situations. It is all about training your dog to work along with other dogs and pets in your home and all about being a member of your pack, your family.

Do you have what it takes?

We often identify someone as the leader if he has all the qualities that we look up to. A leader in a human’s perspective is a person who has his own company, is the highest ranking official or someone who earns a lot of money and could order people around because of his wealth.

But your dog does not care for all these qualities. And in fact, he would gladly follow anyone who would give him a yummy treat than anyone who has companies, wealth and power. A pack leader is someone who could motivate his pet and someone who could improve his behavior considering that a lot is expected with a domesticated dog.

But dominating a dog is not being a pack leader and is never an acceptable attitude as well. A pack leader is not about scolding a dog when it makes a mistake, hitting or hurting a dog just to submit or shouting and berating a dog when it gets too messy. It is not about physical strength and power but compassion, calm and consistency are the keys to being a successful pack leader.

All Dogs Are the Same

All dogs, regardless of breed, will follow their pack leader. There are several strategies to begin training yourself to become this kind of leader for your dog:

Be calm and composed – your dog can naturally sense your agitation, stress and emotions and therefore you must channel a sense of calmness to let your dog calm down too. Dogs have tremendous energy and they must move about, bark and play just to release this energy. By being calm, you are likely to make your dog calm too. You will also be more likely to respond to your dog’s messages if you are calm.

Meet and greet your dog in a calm and controlled manner – this will help your dog switch off at home and to avoid persistent barking, noise and out of control behavior when you get home.

Feed your dog correctly – this will establish your seat as the pack leader and will become the key to future behavior modification training in the future. And if you have a dog that is not food-motivated then you could use exercise, activities and play as a motivation to proper behavior.